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Dr. Rand Paul: Time for Congress to Pass ‘Audit the Fed’

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) reintroduced his Federal Reserve Transparency Act (S. 148), widely known as the “Audit the Fed” bill, to prevent the Federal Reserve from concealing vital information on its operations from Congress. Seven cosponsors joined Senator Paul on the legislation.

“Audit the Fed is a grassroots-driven movement that has rattled the establishment and proven time and again the difference concerned Americans can make against the odds. It’s time for Congress to respond by passing this bill to hold the secretive Federal Reserve, the enabler of Washington’s spending addiction, accountable to the people’s representatives,” said Sen. Paul.

On January 12, 2016, a bipartisan Senate majority voted 53-44 in support of Audit the Fed, and the bill has passed the U.S. House of Representatives multiple times by wide, bipartisan majorities as standalone legislation.

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY-4) has once again introduced the companion bill, H.R. 24, in the U.S. House.

S. 148 would require the nonpartisan, independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors and reserve banks within one year of the bill’s passage and to report back to Congress within 90 days of completing the audit.

Audit the Fed would amend section 714b of Title 31 of the U.S. Code to allow the GAO to fully audit:

· transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization;

· deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations;

· transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or

· a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)–(3) of this subsection.